UTC Mum On Report That It Plans To Open Regional HQ In South Florida

Report: UTC interested in moving jobs to $115 million office building in Palm Beach Gardens

United Technologies Corp. declined to comment Wednesday on a published report that the company plans to move 450 jobs into a new $115 million office building in south Florida.

It is unclear where the work would come from, but the report, published Wednesday on the Palm Beach Post website, calls the project a regional headquarters for its Otis Elevator and Carrier businesses, which are now based in Farmington.

A spokesman for United Technologies Corp. referred questions to UTC Building & Industrial Systems, the division that includes Otis and Carrier. A spokeswoman there, Mary Milmoe, said that the article, which quoted unnamed sources, was "speculation" and declined to comment.

Fifteen of UTC Building & Industrial Systems 40 job openings in Florida are listed for Palm Beach Gardens. The job descriptions describe major North American positions: product experts, marketing experts, paralegals for product litigation, interns, national account managers and government contract specialists.

Milmoe would not say whether the openings are for a new location or an existing one.

United Technologies has significant operations in that part of Florida. Pratt & Whitney has engine assembly and test facilities in West Palm Beach. And Otis has offices just north of there, in Jupiter.

The project for the yet-unnamed company, dubbed "Project Diamond" by local and county officials, is for a "subsidiary and regional managing office" that also considered relocating to North Carolina and Georgia, both states with significant United Technologies operations.

Florida officials at the state, county and local levels are considering millions in subsidies and tax breaks for the company.